People often ask about the importance (or not) of working closely with a teacher. One can benefit greatly from general meditation instruction, but personalised guidance from someone who knows you and your practice well can be deeply helpful.
In this session, Martin speaks about approaching teachers for guidance and about the dynamics of the teacher-student relationship; the promise, the potency, and the possible perils and pitfalls.
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This talk explores classic Buddhist teachings about anatta: self and not-self as well highlighting how other traditions and modalities recognized self and what it means to be free from self. We investigate self and not-self through spiritual, poetic cultural and personal perspectives.
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In this practice related talk, we will explore the profound concept of “Feeling Tone or Vedena” and how it serves as a gateway to deeper awareness, compassion, and wisdom in our lives. Feeling Tone, often referred to as the raw and immediate tonality of our experiences, holds the key to unlocking a more profound connection…
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Buddha-Dharma teachings offer unparalleled insight into Truth, both ultimate and relative. Yet many practitioners fall into the belief that regular meditation alone will lead to breakthrough experiences and liberation-reinforced by the image of Buddha sitting under the Bodhi Tree.True liberation requires more than mindfulness practice. It transforms our entire conditioning: our ethics, how we view…
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Simplicity underlies Dharma practice. It’s common that when people begin to meditate, even if they have a full life with a job and family, they begin to realize that simplicity is a deep value. Pursuing conventional goals feels less meaningful or satisfying than finding ease and straightforwardness in our approach to life. Simplicity cuts across…
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Martin writes: “Sangha is about community, support and love; it is one of the 3 jewels (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha) of our practice. But in the individualistic cultures and atomised structures in which many of us live, sangha too often gets inadequate attention. This is especially true in the Vipassana / Insight meditation tradition, because while silent meditation…
In this week of practice, we will follow the Buddha’s advice to tune into the oneness of our existence and the five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and space. Practising in this way can nourish a sense of groundedness, freedom, and belonging-while opening pathways to collectedness, joy, and insight.
This week’s topic is “Letting Go. An Act of the Will?”
We pick up a hot coal in the morning from the wood burner.
Ouch, we let go immediately. No thought. No desire. Instant letting go.
The language of letting go has entered into the mind of the meditator.
It is often not a solution but an ambitious state of mind.
Letting go reveals an outcome of understanding.
We can tell ourselves a 1000 times we should let go and it’s to no avail.
The desire to let go shows we are not ready to let go.
We will explore the preparation for letting go and wise responses employing at times letting go.
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On autopilot, our mind often resists opening to joy with: “But right now in my life, there is …” So we explore what stands in our way of the unexpected ordinariness of joy. We’ll discover how the awakening factor of meditative joy (piti) illuminates our capacity to open to delight and rapture, allowing our hearts…
Discussion